Chapter 12
1201 Words
Isabella
By the time I arrived at the coffee shop, the sky had already begun turning gold.
Warm sunlight spilled across the glass windows, soft and beautiful, but I felt completely detached from it.
I stood outside for a moment, gripping my cane tightly before finally pushing the door open. The quiet chime above the entrance rang softly, and immediately, I saw him.
Carlos sat near the far corner by the window, dressed simply in a dark coat with a cup of untouched coffee in front of him. The moment his eyes landed on me, he stood up so quickly his chair scraped harshly against the floor.
“Isabella…” The way he said my name made something tighten painfully in my chest.
He didn't feel pity for me, and he wasn't looking out for me out of obligation. Instead, he was genuinely concerned.
His eyes moved over me slowly, taking in my pale face, the shadows beneath my eyes, the cane in my hand, and finally, the uneven limp I could never fully hide no matter how hard I tried.
And then, his expression broke. Pain flickered across his face so openly that I almost looked away..For a few seconds, he didn’t even speak.
He only stared at me like he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing, and honestly?
That hurt more than if he had said something cruel.
Because Carlos knew me before all of this, before the limp, before the sleepless nights and before I became someone who constantly waited to be loved.
I used to laugh loudly, I used to run, used to light up every room I walked into, and now, now I looked like this.
“Sit down first,” he said quietly, finally finding his voice.
I nodded once, and he moved quickly around the table to help me with the chair, careful and gentle without making me feel helpless.
That almost broke me immediately. As I sat down slowly, I made sure to avoid his eyes. Carlos remained standing for another second before finally sitting across from me.
A wave of silence stretched between us. It wasn't the awkward type, but the kind filled with things neither person knew how to say out loud.
“You’ve lost weight,” he murmured eventually.
“Wow.” I forced a small smile. “So the first thing you do is criticize my appearance?”
“Isabella.” His brows furrowed instantly. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.” I gave him a smile, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. Carlos stared at me for a long moment, and the sadness in his eyes became almost unbearable.
“You were always so bright,” he said quietly, almost to himself. “Everywhere you went, it felt like sunlight followed you.”
Something in my chest cracked violently at those words. I looked down immediately, because suddenly, I couldn’t breathe properly anymore.
Years of humiliation, years of loneliness, years of pretending I was okay. All of it surged upward so suddenly it nearly drowned me.
“I’m fine,”My throat tightened painfully as I tried to say, but the words collapsed halfway out.
A broken sound escaped me instead, and then, the tears came. They were hot, sudden and uncontrollable, and before long, I was sobbing into the space in front of me.
I covered my mouth quickly, horrified by the choking sound that left me, but it only made things worse.
God, I hadn’t meant to cry. Not here and not in front of him, but once the first tear fell, the rest followed mercilessly.
“I…” My voice shook violently. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me…”
Carlos immediately reached across the table, not grabbing me, not overwhelming me. His hand just rested on mine steadily, and even though he didn't say anything yet, the relief he brought was immense.
“It’s alright,” he said softly, but that only made me cry harder, because nobody had told me that in a very long time.
I cried until my chest hurt, until breathing became difficult, until years of buried pain finally clawed their way out of me, and through all of it, Carlos stayed quiet.
He didn’t interrupt, didn’t ask questions, and didn’t tell me I was overreacting.
He simply waited and by the time I finally calmed down, my eyes were swollen and my head ached faintly.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered hoarsely. “I didn't mean to, I just…”
“It's okay.” Carlos cut me off gently as he handed me another napkin. “You never have to apologize to me for this.”
A fresh wave of emotion nearly hit me again, but I swallowed it down forcefully. After a while, he leaned back slightly and exhaled.
“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.” His voice was low, so low I looked up slowly.
“In the Northern Territory,” he began carefully, “there’s a healer I know.”
My fingers stilled around the warm cup between my hands, but I didn't interrupt him.
“He’s one of the best specialists out there,” Carlos continued. “And from everything I’ve heard, there’s a real possibility he could restore your leg completely.”
Silence echoed again, but this time, my heartbeat quickened painfully. He was talking about restoring my leg completely, just like Amelia had suggested.
The words felt dangerous to hope for, but I couldn't help but allow my chest to flutter in hope.
“I…” I looked away quickly. “I don’t know.”
Carlos studied me quietly for a moment, and then his expression shifted slightly, like realization had finally settled in.
“You’re still thinking about him.” he muttered and I didn’t answer.
That answer was enough, and a tired sigh left him.
“When you left back then,” he said quietly, “I worried about you.”
My throat tightened again.
“You only saw one person.” His voice remained calm, but firm. “and everything in your life became centered around him.”
“But Isabella…” I stared down at my hands silently as he leaned forward slightly. “You cannot build your entire existence around one man.”
The words landed heavily, and I closed my eyes briefly.
“If you can’t even care for yourself,” he continued gently, “how can you expect someone else to truly care for you?”
“A relationship should never feel like begging for scraps,” Carlos said softly. “It should be mutual and equal. You deserve to be loved completely, not tolerated conditionally.”
“You have to become whole again,” My chest ached violently when he finished quietly. “For yourself this time.”
Silence fell between us once more, but this silence felt different. It wasn't suffocating or cruel, just honest and after a very long moment, I finally let out a soft laugh.
It was small, broken and tired, then I shook my head slowly.
“I lost faith in that man a long time ago.”
- Writer
